The Björk 360-degree virtual reality experience

Songstress and pop-art icon Björk, who is known for her daring and visually striking music videos, is back at it with an interactive, virtual reality video for her song Stonemilker.

Originally filmed and screened for a retrospective on Björk's career at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City, the music video for Stonemilker, off the iconic singer's new album Vulnicura, is a simple, yet powerful example of how the interactive nature of virtual reality can add emotional dimension to the experience.

Throughout her illustrious career, Björk has worked with some of the biggest directors in music videos, including Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and Lynn Fox, and delivered incredible videos often at the forefront of what was technically possible in their day. More recent collaborators, Director Andrew Thomas Huang and VRSE.works, a production company and collective of VR creators and innovators, produced what would eventually become the Stonemilker video at the bottom of this page.

According to a Creative Review interview with Huang, Björk's spontaneity led to some last minute changes. The virtual reality shoot was originally slated for a different song, Lion Song, but the singer decided that the technology wasn't right for the song. And the location wasn't right. So the production moved to the beach where Björk wrote the song Stonemilker. Shooting with a custom 360-degree rig of GoPros (and nearby rocks where the crew could hide mid-take), the performance consisted of Björk alone with the camera(s), leading to highly intimate performance.

Whether you view the Stonemilker video from a VR headset or just within your browser window, I'm certain that you will be compelled to 'follow' Björk as she walks out-of-view. I won't reveal anything that could be construed as a spoiler, but I will say that at a specific point in the video, you'll find yourself spinning in 360-degrees, which will heighten the emotional experience.